Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-04-12
ANTI-COEROION.
MONSTER DEMONSTRATION IN HYDE
PARK. LONDON.
One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Persons
Prssent-stirr!ng Speeches from
Fourteen Platforms -rhs
Crimes Bill Condemned.

LONDON, April 1.-THE gathering IN
HYDE Park this afternoon was the
largest ever held in London. Tho
ueonle we're enthusiastic but orderly.
A motion protesting against the co.
ercion bill was offered simultaneously
from fourteen platforms and carried
amid great enthusiasm. The Socialists
stole a march on the police and erected
platforms from which several speakers
delivered orations. They afterwards
held noisy meeting in Trafalgar
Square. =,
Mrs. Gladstone watched the anti
coercion procession from window IN
Piceadilly and was given an ovation by
the men in line.
Estimates of the attendance at the
meeting vary, but it is certain that l5O,-
eco persons, including lookers-6n, were
present. The procession took one and
a half hours to file into the park. The
first contingent was composed OF mem
bers Of Robert Emmett Lodge. Then
| followed large number OF irish tenn
perance lodges, Radical workmen's
climbs. and social Democratic societies.
Numerous bands Of music were IN line.
While passing the Carleton and other
| Conservative clubs the bands played
the Dead March in Saul and the Mar.
seillaise Hymn. Green banners and
Irish national emblems we're conspicu-
GUS in the ranks OF the paraders.
| Among the notices displayed on the
| banners of the Radicals were these !:
hJustice to Ireland" Friendship,
| Not Bayonets," "No Coercion"
The effect of the careful arrangements
| that had been made to avoid confusion at
| the park was seen in the admirable order
in which the psraders grouped them
selves around the fourteen platforms.
| Ihecreatest ronggathered at the plat
| form from which Lord-Mayor Sullivan,
Of Dublin, and Conybeane and William
Redmond, members OF Parliament,
spoke. Lord-Mayor Sullivan, in the
course Of most effective speech, asked ::
"Is it the wish Of the workmen Of Lon
| don that the honest, hardworking ten
antry of Ireland shall be forever
crushed down ?" A tremendous re-
sponsive "No" resounded throughout
| the park. Mention of the Queen asabodt
TO celebrate her jubilee by signing
away the liberties of the people OF Ire
| land brought forth torrent of hissee,
end the mention of Chamberlain
| name aroused tempest of groens and
Kisses and cries Of "Traitor !" Sulli-
van, in concluding, assured his hearers
ihst the demonstration would carry
hope and Joy into the hearts Of the
Irish. 1t would cheer many a poor
struggling man to know that England
was no enemy Of Ireland. "In return,
be said, don't let them believe those
who say the Irish are the mortal, i'm
plscabie enemies of England. That is
faIsehood worthy Of the bottOmless
nit. ICheers. Let there be an end
Of oppression and injustice and there
will be an endof hatred" prolonged
cheering
Michael Davitt appeared at the So
cialists' platform. He referred to the
demonstration as a proof of the APP
proaching solidarity OF tho people of
Great Britain and ireland. In proper
ton as the masses began to understand
each other 80 the classes became
alarmed. The privileged classes well
know the inevitable tendency OF the
irish movement and sought to crush
the Irish leaders, hoping to pre-
vent the English people following
the example set them by the Irish.
But they would hold the fort Ill Ireland.
| TCheers. On the day on which the
crimes act should become q law they
would either have TO give up the strug-
Gle that had been waged for centuries
and lie down as slaves or render the
system impossible Of duration. They
would follow the manlier course. The
classes had in the past built e bridge
Of bate across the Irish sea. The peo-
| pie would pull it down and erect a
bridge Of love between the toilers OF
Ireland and the honest workers OF
England Cheers
John Burns, Socialist leader, followed
Davitt. He declared that the state OF
Ireland justified civil war, and that the
English people were ready to assist the
Irish peasants in revolt.
At 4:30o'clock bugle sounded, and
at this prcaranged signal a resolution
condemning the crimes bill was put
simultaneously at all of the platforms.
The resolution was carried amid pro-
| longed roar of cheers.